(Jefferson City)–While Missouri has the nation’s seventh-largest highway system with 34-thousand miles of roadway, it ranks 49th in funding. Outgoing Senate Transportation Committee chair Doug Libla says it’s time to raise the state’s 17-cent per gallon gasoline tax, adding that out-of-state motorists pay 40 to 50 percent of it:

Libla says Pennsylvania’s gasoline tax is 58-cents per gallon. His bill to increase Missouri’s gas tax from 17 to 19-cents per gallon failed this year. The legislation would also have adjusted the taxes on gasoline and diesel fuel annually for inflation.